Practicalities
by sss979
Summary: A swim, and some fun in a cave. Tasteful adult material.


**Practicalities**

**A/N: This piece was originally supposed to be a Christmas present for my reader/patron/friend Mandy, but morning sickness determined that it was not to be so. Although my cowriter (thagrrrl79) and I played it before I started getting sick, it's only now been edited. So Merry Belated Christmas and I hope you enjoy! For those of you keeping track, this goes at the end of the Quiescenary Series (but contains no spoilers).**

The cave was lit by a sliver of light from above, a tiny crack through which a few stray flakes of snow were falling. The white lace melted as it hit the warmer air inside the cave, and turned to fog over the surface of the pool of water below. That thick, grey fog was swirling at their feet as the Doctor studied the waterfall that fed into the pool with amusement. Unfortunately, Rose's toes were a bit too numb in her boots to feel the warmth in the humid air.

"Blimey, it's cold!" She pulled her coat tighter around her midsection as she stared at the water in confusion. "Is that steam?"

"Yup," the Doctor answered, crouching beside the pool and breathing deep.

"But how? It's freezing in here!" She looked up at the waterfall and shivered just thinking about how cold that water must be. It was coming from the frozen surface of the planet - or just below it, where water still flowed beneath the ice.

"Hot spring," he declared, rising again and turning on his heel to face her with a smile. There was no snow on the cave floor, but she could hear his shoes squish with the water they'd soaked in from their walk.

"Must be boiling hot, if it's mixing with that," she nodded to the waterfall, "and making steam."

"Hmm." He crouched again and put his hand in the water. "About 41 degrees right here, by your measurement. Cooler closer to the waterfall and warmer further away from it. The spring feeds from the opposite side."

She took a few steps closer, releasing the hold on her coat slightly. Pulling off a glove, she crouched and stuck her hand in beside his just as he smiled, flicked a few droplets of water from his fingers in her direction, and stood. The water felt wonderful; it brought feeling back to her frozen fingers almost instantly. If the ground hadn't been so full of mud, it would have been her next order of business to stick her icy feet in as well.

"Nice in here," the Doctor observed, looking up at the crack that let in just enough light to see all the shadows. "Sheltered, warm, beautiful..."

"Warm?" she challenged with a laugh, rising to her feet again.

"The temperature in here stays pretty constant, no matter what's going on up there," he answered. "Most caves are like that. That's why so many races and creatures all across the universe choose to live in them."

She didn't want to put her hand back into her wet glove. As she stood there staring at it, her eyes kept drifting back to the water.

"So what do you think?" the Doctor asked, arms crossed as he smiled at her. "Go for a swim?"

"What?" She tried to feign shock at the suggestion. "You serious?"

"'Course I'm serious."

He shrugged his shoulders out of his jacket - the same one he wore when it _wasn't _twenty below, and the one that made her wonder if he was even capable of getting cold - and draped it over the boulder. With a smile, he came closer, stepped behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist, slipping them into her heavy jacket as he whispered in her ear.

"It'll be fun."

She turned to look at him, eyebrows raised. "And just what exactly are we going to swim in? Our all-together?"

He laughed quietly. "Shy, all of a sudden?"

"No, but we're not exactly in the privacy of the Tardis, are we? And it may be warm with our clothes on, but I bet it's pretty damn chilly without all the layers."

"Not in the water." His cold hands were finding their way deeper into her jacket, brushing the top of her jeans, toying with the button. "And I wouldn't worry about the privacy; there's nobody around for miles."

She squirmed, wary of those exploring fingers. "You know that for sure, do you?"

"If I didn't, would it matter?" He withdrew his hands slightly and pulled her jacket apart and down her arms. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Let's see... We could be locked up, killed, eaten - take your pick, really."

"Nah, not around here." His voice rang with confidence, even if he did cast a quick glance toward the entrance at the end of the dark tunnel they'd wandered down. "Peaceful planet, nothing deadly. Well... I say nothing. Almost nothing. Nothing around here."

She rolled her eyes. "Famous last words. Just remember that I don't have the luxury of being able to regenerate, yeah?"

Stepping away, she leaned against the wall and kicked off her trainers as he smiled at her. Undoing the button on her jeans, she nodded toward him as she slipped them off. For a moment, he looked like he would've been more than happy just to watch her. But after barely catching the jeans she threw at him, he thought better of it.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Kit off."

Setting her pants over his jacket, he loosened his tie, slipped it over his head, and began working on the buttons of his shirt, still keeping one eye on her. She was already shivering, and she hugged herself as she pulled her shirt off.

"You sure it'll be warmer in the water?" she asked, worried.

"You felt it yourself."

"Yeah, but I don't want to jump in and find out it's only in that one area."

"Like I said, warmer over here, cooler over there," he pointed, shrugging off his jacket. "That's why the fog is forming there. Cool air moving over warmer water traps higher density water vapor under the cool air mass."

She looked between the Doctor and the pool, skeptical. Pulling her socks off, she walked to the edge and dipped a toe in. Then, prepared for anything, she knelt down and lowered herself in until her feet touched the rocky bottom. The warm water came up to her chest, and made her skin sting slightly at the sudden change in temperature and the slow return of feeling. And it felt wonderful...

She hummed softly in contentment, closing her eyes and relaxing against the side of the pool. She could feel the Doctor's eyes still on her, smiling as he watched her with that smug sense of self-satisfaction. Yes, he was right. Yes, the water was perfect. Finally, he lowered next to her, and the water sloshed up to her neck before it stilled again.

"You took your sweet time."

He raised a brow. "Complaining again?" he teased.

She splashed him slightly. "Hey, it was your idea to go swimming. Just figured you'd be first in, is all."

He smiled and waded into warmer side of the pool. She followed curiously, feeling the edge of the pool for a suitable foothold as the water grew deeper. There wasn't one, really, and it was only a few inches later that the Doctor's foot slipped and he went under. A bit surprised to suddenly be in over his head, he took a few seconds to surface and shook his head, spraying water all around him as he tread.

"Bit deeper over here."

She laughed. "D'ya think?"

He swam the few feet to the other side of the pool and there, he apparently found the ledge he'd been looking for. The water came halfway up his chest; it couldn't have been more perfectly placed if it had been carved out artificially. Sitting down on it with his back to the wall, he held out a hand in her direction. She carefully moved toward him, having to tread much sooner than he did. Once she took his hand, she let him pull her toward him. Sitting on his lap, she wrapped her arms around his neck again and smiled.

"So, this is Time Lord swimming, then? Sitting on a rock in a pool."

He nuzzled her gently, circling one arm around her waist and moving the other slowly up her leg from her knee. "I'm rather enjoying it, aren't you?"

She nodded, nuzzling him back, her fingers lazily playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. "Mmm... Definitely not complaining."

He kissed her jaw line, licking up the warm water, stopping to kiss the pressure point behind her ear. Giggling, she tilted her head slightly, giving better access to her neck. She could tell by the lazy trail he was making that his mind was wandering as absently as his hands, over her thigh, all the way up to her hip.

She had all but forgotten the cold outside, the feeling of frozen toes and a shivering spine. In fact, she was pretty sure that was a thin sheen of sweat breaking out on her forehead. The water really was quite warm, and the Doctor seemed uncharacteristically quiet.

"You okay?" she asked quietly.

"Mmm hmm."

It was the only answer that he gave, but he paused a moment to tease her bottom lip, pulling it gently between his teeth. Smiling into the almost-kiss, she grazed the nails of one hand across his neck and down his chest before running it back up, splayed through the soft hair on his chest. He was relaxed; she could feel no hint of tension in his shoulders, where she held him for balance.

"It's nice to see you relaxed," she whispered into his mouth.

He hummed softly again and deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue along hers and coaxing her gently as his hands wandered ever closer to more intimate places. She left a line of kisses from his mouth to his neck and traced her tongue along one of many trails coming from his wet hair, stopping at his ear to trace the shell. As she pulled the lobe between her teeth, he leaned back, letting his head rest on the rock wall.

"It's been a long time since I've done this," he muttered absently. "You don't think about it, just relaxing... not having anything important on your mind. Doesn't happen often."

Leaning against his shoulder, she nuzzled into him, letting her hand draw absent patterns on his chest. "No it doesn't. Kinda nice not running."

"Not that I don't like the running..."

She gave a low chuckle. "That's an understatement."

He smiled, eyes wandering over the cave wall opposite him, shadowed by the dim light coming from above. "I think sometimes it's hard to shut it off."

"I sometimes wonder if you're spring-loaded."

"Hmm..." He moved a hand slowly up and down her back, then down further, teasing the inside of her thigh. "Tell me again; why did we wait so long to do this?"

"What? Make out in a warm-water pool in a cave on some alien planet?"

He smiled. She shrugged as she answered her own question with a grin. "Dunno. Maybe your bad driving?"

"Bad driving?" he retorted with feigned indignance. "Bad driving?"

She leveled a gaze at him. "Twelve months."

He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again. It took him a moment to come up with any response to that one. "With all of time and space to navigate, twelve months isn't _that _far off target..."

She laughed. "Is that really the best you can come up with?"

He smirked, and moved a hand out of the water and into her hair, pulling her closer and holding her as he claimed her mouth in a deep, possessive kiss. He let it linger for a long moment, until she was breathless, then pulled away with a knowing smile.

"Better?" he teased.

Her eyes fluttered open as she gave him a crooked smile. "A bit."

"Only a bit?"

The hand underneath the water moved further up the inside of her leg, and he pushed her thighs apart slightly as he reached the soft, warm place where they joined. She gave a quiet moan as her eyes rolled back.

"Okay, more than a bit."

He chuckled quietly, slipping two fingers inside of her folds and rubbing his thumb over the place that he knew would make her moan louder. The hand in her hair tipped her head away as he kissed along her jaw, giving him better access, and she shifted slightly, holding him for balance.

"Rose?" he whispered.

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to fall off of this ledge if we -"

Too late. His not-quite-steady perch on the narrow ledge slipped and he slid with her into the water, struggling to grasp her with one arm and the edge of the pool with the other. He didn't quite manage, nor did her instinctive death grip on his shoulders keep her from plunging beneath the surface. She gasped, splashing ungracefully as she tried to grab onto something. She took in a lungful of water before she managed to find the wall and pull herself to the surface, coughing and spitting and wiping her face so that she could see.

It was only a second later that the Doctor rose next to her. "Sorry!"

She was laughing between coughs as he got a grip on the wall and moved one arm around her. He'd taken in a bit of water, too, and he turned his head to cough and sputter for a moment before looking back at her, red-faced.

"Sorry, Rose, are you okay?"

She reached up and moved his matted-down hair off his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

He nodded, and coughed a few more times before he leaned against the edge of the pool for support. His other arm pulled her close, flush against him. But his eyes were closed as he caught his breath.

"I think maybe this wasn't the great idea I thought it was."

She wrapped an arm around him, still smiling as she hugged him. "It seemed like a great idea right up until we went 'sploosh.'"

"Hmm."

She nuzzled him, and he opened his eyes again, still holding firmly to the side of the pool with his free hand. "It's been a long time since I've thought about the mechanics of..."

He smirked slightly at her and she raised a brow.

"There are a hundred million secluded little places scattered all across the universe that I'd like to take you," he finally whispered. "Pretty, comfortable... and impractical."

"This isn't necessarily one of them."

Pushing off the wall, she moved in front of him, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. He blinked, momentarily startled, then slowly relaxed against her as she leaned in close and whispered into his ear.

"You just have to use your imagination."

"Imagination?" He kissed her, a bit unsure. He still had a white-knuckle grip on the edge of the pool, but he didn't want to cause a repeat of their near-drowning by getting overly ambitious. "I never thought I was lacking imagination before now."

She smiled, pulling his lower lip between her teeth, then moved her mouth to his ear before breathing softly, "We could always move to where you can touch the bottom."

"Cooler over there."

"I really don't think heat will be an issue, do you?"

"Maybe not."

He moved along the edge of the wall, drawing her with him until his feet touched the bottom. He went a few more inches just to be sure he had a good stance, and hesitantly let go of the wall to wrap both arms around her. She leaned back, hands hooked behind his neck, and smiled up at him.

"Better?"

She still couldn't touch, but he supported her weight easily in the water, his other hand moving up and down her side slowly. "It's nice," he agreed.

"Hmm... Now about the 'making out' part of this scene..."

He laughed quietly and nipped gently at her lower lip, pulling it between his teeth, teasing for a moment before he leaned in and kissed her deeply. Without thought, she opened to him, fingers snaking into his hair, pressing her body against his in the warm, relaxing water. His hands slid beneath her, lifting and pulling her closer, and he dropped his head to kiss and lick the side of her neck, all the way down to her shoulder.

"You taste good, Rose," he whispered.

Smiling, she nibbled on his ear, tasting the salty, complex mix of her and the pure, simple water. "You're not so bad yourself."

He groaned as she found a particularly sensitive spot, and pulled her hips closer. She could feel him hardening against her thigh, and she lowered one hand to cup him, stroking slowly, massaging with her thumb the way he'd done to her before their impromptu dive. She almost laughed at the brief flash of memory, but the thought faded abruptly as he covered her mouth with his and kissed her deeply.

His hands were possessive, holding her tight. His kiss made her moan. Pulling her legs up around his waist again, she guided him to her entrance, and her eyes rolled back as he carefully pulled her down onto him, joining their bodies together.

"Doctor?"

"Hmm?"

"I think we've gone a step beyond making out."

He laughed, low and gentle in her ear. "Is that your way of telling me you want to stop?"

She groaned and rocked her hips against him, finding an easy rhythm. "Absolutely not."

His hands moved to her hips, holding her tightly, pushing and pulling to even out her pace. Kissing him again, she gripped the wall behind him to balance them both, and smiled as their eyes met. "No sploosh this time," she whispered.

He laughed - a breathy sound that turned to a moan as she grazed her teeth across his shoulder. Their bodies fit perfectly together, as if instinctively. Action and reaction, push and pull, pleasure and building excitement as the tension gripped them, scattering her thoughts. She leaned forward and bit down on his shoulder, whimpering as he thrust into her harder. Had anything ever felt so good in all her life?

"Doctor..."

He groaned, and she placed a frantic trail of hot kisses up his neck and along his jaw before leaning her forehead on his. She could taste his breath, feel it on her lips - as hot and heavy as her own. He opened his eyes to look at her, and he knew she was holding onto his control by a thread. Nails digging into the mud at the pool's edge, she rocked harder against him, desperate for more as her muscles contracted tightly. She held the feeling just as long as she could, closing her eyes tightly.

"Doctor, I love you..."

He pulled her tight against him as he groaned loudly. Her body was reacting on its own now, pulsing, clamping down impossibly tight and spasming. She could feel it all the way down to her toes, and knew by the way his hips jerked against her that he was tumbling into release right along with her. Dizzy, disoriented, and drowning in pleasure, she shuddered as the last of her energy was spent, and slumped against him, into his comforting embrace.

"I love you too," he breathed against her wet hair.

Her legs were locked around his waist, and the weightlessness of the water made it easy for them to stay there. Enjoying the simple intimacy, she rested her head on his shoulder and kissed his neck feather lightly. "See?" she whispered. "Not impractical at all."

He chuckled under his breath as he squeezed her tighter, just for a moment, and took a deep breath, letting it out slow. "I stand corrected."


End file.
